Survival Knife
A survival knife should be chosen with multiple uses in mind. First: cleaning and taking game.
Second: Fighting predators both four legged and two legged. Think of the Bowie Knife.
Choose with this in mind.
I have seen many knife fights in the prison system over more than 30 years.
Lesser knives blade will break when striking bone. The edges will dull.
The survival knife needs be strong, sword sharp, and made in one piece. The blade should be at least 9 inches in length measured from the half. This is to reach vital organs. The haft needs to be a true full tang, not rat tail and not half or less.
Sword sharp means a steeper angle to the edge at around 40 degrees to prevent the edge from rolling on bone. The blade should not have a saw on the back. The saw will hang up in the predator. The blade should be 1/4" in thickness for strength. Hollow ground edges slice but not deeply, sabre grind and scandi grinds are a good compromise. The convex grind is a deep and strong slicer.
The point is the weak spot and should not be too thin, and targets need to be chosen for lack of bone, hanging gear, beltbuckets, etc...
Blades with fullers are a little lighter and retains strength. They are not blood grooves.
The sheath needs to have good retention.
A knife needs maintenance, oiling, tightening scales, etc...
Avoid like the plague
Blades or grips with holes machined through them, or gut hooks or bottle cap removers.
At 21 feet a man with a knife is deadlier than a man with a firearm.
Targets
Slicing - tendons at wrist, inside elbows, behind knee, across forehead, stomach, throat, femoral arteries
Stabbing - stomach, stick it in and cut in any direction, heart, stab behind left collar bone into
top of heart and aorta, chest, and the neck